The Ravenna papyri, sometimes Italian papyri, are the surviving

Late Latin Late Latin ( la, Latinitas serior) is the scholarly name for the form of Literary Latin of late antiquity.Roberts (1996), p. 537. English dictionary definitions of Late Latin date this period from the , and continuing into the 7th century in t ...

papyrus Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, '' Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'') can also refer to a ...

documents of the chancery of the Archdiocese of Ravenna. They are archival material, not literary texts, and mainly concern the administration of ecclesiastical land and the preservation of ecclesiastical privileges. Most of the material originated in the Ravennan chancery, but some was sent there from elsewhere in Italy, such as

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

or Syracuse. Latin papyri from western Europe are rare, and early

palaeographer Palaeography ( UK) or paleography ( US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") is the study of historic writing systems and the deciphering and dating of historical manuscripts, including the analysi ...

s were greatly interested in the Ravennan examples. They are an important source for legal procedure in

Late Antiquity Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English ha ...

and in the

Exarchate of Ravenna The Exarchate of Ravenna ( la, Exarchatus Ravennatis; el, Εξαρχάτο της Ραβέννας) or of Italy was a lordship of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) in Italy, from 584 to 751, when the last exarch was put to death by the ...

. They also illustrate the evolution of Late Latin and late

Roman cursive Roman cursive (or Latin cursive) is a form of handwriting (or a script) used in ancient Rome and to some extent into the Middle Ages. It is customarily divided into old (or ancient) cursive and new cursive. Old Roman cursive Old Roman cursiv ...

. The documents include wills, donations to churches and monasteries, heritable leases of church lands, and sales of church lands. Sixty or so texts come from between 445 and the mid-7th century, with the latest of this early group being variously dated to 642/3 or 665/6. A late group of texts from the 9th and 10th centuries also exists, but is substantially less well studied.

Sources

Further reading